Category Archives: Blog

Bright Futures

At Excelus Financial Inc. we know that having the ability to understand personal finance and to obtain credit is the lifeline to creating a “Bright Future” for our Clients and their families, therefore, fulfilling financial dreams for thousands of Canadians.

We help our Clients to Build, Create or Restore their good Credit.

We know that Credit Building is Asset Building; therefore, we provide Credit Building Services, Secured Savings Credit Building Loans combined with Credit Education.

Ladies, it is very important that you try not to get into personal debt when you are building your business.

Unless of course you know what you’re doing and are prepared for the potential consequences.

While it is true that all businesses require money to get started it is important that you not put yourself in a debt situation that you cannot cope with. Starting a business even a one-person-startup will cost you on average $25,000 – $30,000 in your first year. You will need, a website, website hosting, domain name registration, business name, (if you plan to incorporate … Read More >

Picture this scenario – you receive a phone call from your bank asking if you purchased something for $215.63 from an online retailer yesterday. You confirm that no, you did not. Your bank tells you that it appears as if you have been the victim of fraud and identity theft and that they will reverse the charges after an investigation is placed on your account.

The bank suggests that you go to your local branch and change your Personal Identification Number (PIN) and your online banking password. They give you no further information regarding what you should do and how … Read More >

THE JONES DON’T COUNT

Far too often wants are driven by the desire to have what others have. This desire is referred to as keeping up with the Joneses. Whomever, the Joneses, are should have little or no influence on your spending. What others do and have should not control or even influence what you purchase. Achieving your financial happiness and well-being should be far more critical. Defining yourself is not what you have or what you own; it is who you are that matters. In the long run, the high confidence that you develop from gaining financial self-mastery will … Read More >

Before Shopping, Consider Stopping;

SHOP TILL YOU DROP

Shopping has become one of Canada’s favorite pastimes but is also a massive contributor to debt and financial difficulty. Fortunes are spent, unneeded items are bought, and cash registers continue to ring. Canadians seem to have an unquenchable desire for more things. When a charge card is at its limit, another account is opened. What is more, advertisers fill the media with beautiful items, exclusive discounts, and catchy slogans. It is no wonder that personal debt is galloping out of control and savings accounts are depleted. Something must be done, and … Read More >

Money is an emotional subject it either makes us happy, sad or fearful. Try to think about money as your friend, not your enemy. Track your spending every week make time to go over your finances and understand where your money is going. It will help you to decide to keep spending the way you are or to alter your spending patterns.

Trust your self that you know what is best for you. Spend time researching items before buying them. This is especially true if you are making a “big … Read More >

It has taken a lifetime – or two – or several million – to witness the recent realization that the government in Newfoundland-Labrador has had in understanding the draconian nature of lending huge sums of money to poor people to get a post-secondary education that’s necessary for finding a job – and doing something about it.

As reported by CBC news on August 3rd 2015, provincial student loans have now been replaced with non-repayable grants.

I’ve often wondered why the major political parties, federal and provincial, have methodically steered away from the issue of student loans for decades. The … Read More >

Look out renters. The news is out. Rents are predicted to go up in Metro Vancouver.

An article in the Vancouver Sun today announced that low vacancy rates and unprecedented demand is pushing rents higher and higher. It appears that the high cost of home ownership (real estate) is kicking would be buyers down the food chain a couple of notches to expensive rental accommodation.

High rents have a tendency to keep people poor and out of the real estate market.

Once again a cry for affordable housing can be heard from an important part of the population – middle … Read More >

Before rushing into my usual tirade about banks doing surveys and leaving the impression their findings are indisputable facts, I just loved the reference quote in the article in the Vancouver Sun today about a boomer who lived through double-digit interest rates in the 1980s and over the years missed more than one naïve financial goal.

Yes. How many naïve financial goals are we still being subjected to?

I have recently researched the top selling personal finance books and suddenly realized that pretty much all of them make the roadway to wealth and retirement sound far too easy.

Attention to the student debt crisis in Canada received a headline today in the Vancouver Sun under the title of Growing Number of Students rely on Food Banks.

This is a special category of debt that highlights the financial struggle of those without wealthy parents or shall we say the overwhelming majority of students. It reminds me of the origins of student loan funding in the 1960s.

The student loan program originated in Canada partly because of the wave of social justice that swept through governments and society seeking out fairness and equality for all in the 1960s. It … Read More >

It was a story about a man in St. Catherines Ontario who lost his home, his car and many of his possessions. A fraudster emptied his bank account, mortgaged his home and in total stole $200,00 leaving the senior with $20 to his name. Although they could not provide any details, the police called it the worst case of elder abuse they had ever seen.

It seems that the fraudster was someone the senior knew and trusted – an employee of the credit union where he banked.

Behold, judgement day is upon us, or more accurately, money judgement day.

When I first looked at the new law being proposed in BC about money judgements I almost cried. It’s terrifying to see how many bad things can happen to people if they should have serious debt problems. They even use the word execution.

Money judgements are the second last step in the collection of debts before the final solution for an impossible debt problem, a bankruptcy. Creditors must go to court, first, to get what is known as a judgement so they can begin to take property away … Read More >

Nothing like waking up on a Friday morning to find out that the Bank of Canada governor says house prices are overvalued by 30 %. As reported in the Vancouver Sun, Stephen Poloz, the Bank of Canada Governor said, “The vulnerability associated with household indebtedness is edging higher and the overall risk to financial stability in Canada is slightly higher…..house prices overvalued 30%”

Yikes.

Hidden behind the carefully worded text is another warning. As reported, “The bank continues to expect a constructive evolution of imbalances in the household and housing sectors as the economy improves and interest rates begin to … Read More >

The good news came from a StatsCan report about all of the household debt in Canada that many experts have been complaining about – how Canadians have been accused of being bad money managers but guess what? This report confirms that we are not broke and precariously dangling from a cliff of troublesome household debt, but quite the opposite. Canadians have significant assets to back all of the debt – and more. There is a net-worth surplus.

As published recently by the Vancouver Sun, a former chief economic analyst for Stats Can, Philip … Read More >

A good friend of mine knows all about phishing and never to visit unknown websites – or to open unexpected attachments. Even so, last Friday night at 11:30pm he received a file he was expecting from a known colleague.

The files were big and were sent through Sendspace. When he got it he clicked on Sendspace after which a prompt popped up and informed him that he needed a software upgrade to gain access. So far so good.… Read More >

At the start of a New Year, many of us feel the urge to create resolutions. But, as you might have heard, the average New Year’s resolution is abandoned a few weeks into January.

If we know how often we fail our resolutions, why do we create them in the first place? Most people feel that the beginning of a new year is a ‘fresh start’ and the perfect time to begin rolling out the perfect version of themselves.… Read More >

The other night I received $20 worth of coupons to use at a local restaurant, with no restrictions.

We had never been to this restaurant before so I checked out the website to read the menu, which had a variety of tasty sounding dishes as well as kid’s meals, but no prices listed. My husband and I didn’t have a dinner planned for that night, so we thought we’d pack up the kids and have a cheap dinner out.… Read More >

Recently I met with a couple to do their bankruptcy counselling, and as we were talking the wife asked me a very interesting question. She asked my opinion on joining a “gifting circle” after being invited to do so by a close friend. The buy-in was $5000, and the promised reward was $40,000.

Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it? And you know what they say…

My first response was — that sounds like the “Birthday Girl” scheme. She said “Yes! That’s what they call it, the ‘Birthday Girl’ gets the money when it’s her turn”.… Read More >